Fact or Fiction?
Delaying Immunizations
FACT: Delaying or spreading out vaccines will leave your child at risk for disease when they are most vulnerable.
Some people fear the number of vaccines given to infants and young children is too many.
They may also worry about giving vaccines too soon, at too young an age, and suggest delaying vaccinations. However, the recommended vaccine schedule is designed to provide protection at just the right time. The decision to delay vaccinations can come with consequences and risks. The routine immunization schedule and the combination of vaccines it recommends is safe and effective.
Experts use research to create the vaccine schedule.
A lot of thought and science goes into determining the recommended immunization schedule. Doctors and health experts select which vaccines to give certain ages based on how their immune systems will respond to the vaccine and their likelihood of being exposed to certain diseases. For example, young babies are at highest risk for disease complications, so protecting them before they are exposed to dangerous germs is important. The schedule of vaccines is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and other expert organizations.
Vaccines are tested to work together to best protect your child's health.
The routine childhood immunization schedule is designed to give your child the greatest protection possible. There is no medical benefit in spreading vaccines out. An alternative or delayed vaccine schedule will not decrease the risk for side effects (also known as “adverse reactions”). In fact, research shows that delaying the measles vaccine until after a child is 15 months old may raise their seizure risk.
Delaying vaccines leaves kids vulnerable to illness.
When following the CDC’s recommended schedule, babies visit their doctor 5 times in the first 15 months and receive vaccines to protect against 16 diseases. Delaying your child's vaccines will only increase the number of vaccines and office visits. It will also increase the amount of time your child is in danger of getting infected. Just think about the diseases your child could be exposed to and become sick from if you delay vaccines.
Vaccines won’t overwhelm your baby’s immune system.
Some parents wonder whether an infant’s tiny body is able to safely handle the number of vaccines they receive early in life. They may worry their baby will receive “too many too soon.” The truth is that your child's immune system is stronger than you think. There is no need to fear that vaccinating on schedule will overwhelm the immune system.
From the minute they’re born, babies are exposed to millions of bacteria. Babies’ immune systems are designed to protect them from bacteria and viruses daily. The vaccines given in the first two years of life are “a raindrop in the ocean.” They represent a small fraction of what a baby’s immune system encounters and fights off every day.
In fact, your child is exposed to more germs, like viruses or bacteria (also called “antigens”), in their environment than in all their vaccinations combined. The total number of immunological components in all vaccines your child gets is slightly less than 160. This is tiny compared to the millions of pathogens (disease-causing agents) their body encounters every day by simply eating, breathing, and living life.
We can protect against more diseases today than ever before.
It’s true - children today get more shots than their parents did when they were kids. But this is a good thing! It means we are able to protect babies from even more diseases than ever before.
And while children today receive more vaccines, today’s vaccines today are more pure and more targeted. The combination of vaccines given today in early childhood provides much less of a challenge to a child’s immune system than the combination of vaccines given in the 1980s and 1990s.